10 Astounding World War 2 Facts You Didn't Know

8. Finland Fought Everyone

THE UK INVADES ICELAND
Military Museum of Finland / Public domain

Finland, having only gained independence as a presidential republic in 1919 after the end of World War I, was caught between a rock and a hard place. Or more specifically a League of Nations and a Soviet Union. When Germany and the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, Finland was considered to be future property of the Russians. Made sense, they had been property of the Russians until said independence in 1919.

When Finland refused to let the USSR build military bases within its borders, the Russians just outright attacked them. Many historians consider the ensuing war to be somewhat separate of World War II itself, generally being referred to as the 'Winter War'.

Finland requested aid in repelling the Russians from both Britain and Sweden, to no avail. So they allied with the Germans after Hitler invaded the USSR. A Russian invasion of Finland, coinciding with the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 forced Finland to sign an armistice with Russia which required them to go to expel their former German allies in what became known as the Lapland War.

Poor Finland was nearly everybody's enemy at some point in the war.

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Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.